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Copa del Rey, final

Barcelona 1 - Real Madrid 2

A wonder-goal by Gareth Bale handed Real Madrid a 1-2 victory over Barcelona, and a 19th Spanish cup title. With Cristiano Ronaldo still injured, Bale was given more responsibility, and he went close a couple of times early on before Di María opened the scoring in the tenth minute. Messi fired a shot wide and then struck a long free kick over the top either side of half time, but Bale and Benzema both failed to hit the target at the start of the second half, and Bale got the ball in the net only for referee Mateu Lahoz to rule it out for a previous foul on Pinto. Casillas had only really been tested by Marc Bartra though, and the young centre back got on the end of a Xavi corner to head the equalizer soon afterwards. It looked like the game would be going in to extra time, but with five minutes to go Bale picked up the ball in his own half and ran on past Bartra to poke a shot under Pinto for the winning goal. It was another blow for Tata Martino’s team, who in the last eight days have been knocked out of the Champions League and have thrown away their advantage in the race for the league title. A first title of the season though for Ancelotti and his boys, and who is to say they cannot complete a first ever triple this year? (16.04.14)